An Adventure Like No Other
by Yuki Matsuda
Summary: Several new students and one old teacher think they are ready for their new year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... A gay and a lesbian couple; Harry Potter, Pokémon, Digimon, Ratchet & Clank; maybe more. Rating will be M in future chapters.
1. The Letters

**An Adventure Like No Other  
_Chapter One : The Letters_**

___**Disclaimer****:** I don't own Ratchet & Clank, Harry Potter, or Digimon, OR Pokémon; I however, own the characters Crystal, Katie, Alex and Chelsea. Navarr, Kyri, Tammy, Corey and Pierre are real people and as such belong to ... well, themselves. Hehe.  
Ratchet & Clank, Harry Potter, Digimon and Pokémon belong to Insomniac Games, J.K. Rowling, Bandai and Nintendo, respectively. I don't make money from this,as nice as that would be._  


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* * *

_**

'I'll see you there! Alex shouted back to her lifelong friend, waving her letter in the air while she ran in the other direction.

'Don't be late!' her friend replied, waving back.

Alex looked in front of her to where her house was. She was ready to pack everything and go; it was unfortunate she would have to wait for her mum to come home to drop her at the station. The other girl might beat her there after all.

She thought about the letter. A wand? She would need ... a magic wand? She grinned.

"This is not going to be a normal school," she thought delightedly.

* * *

The man sighed.

"The beginning of another year... not that it will be any different from the last one."

He moved around his room in silence. Not one single, graceful movement made any noise whatsoever, even as he purposefully moved from one side of the room to the other, packing away his posessions once again for the new year. The letter he received from the Headmaster lay on his bed, opened but unread; it was only an official letter to 'inform' him that he was employed as the Potions Professor, again. That he was condemned once again to the dungeons, the pewter cauldrons, the potion vials, the dark classroom that had basically become his home. No change. There had been no change for the past 17 years, no matter how many times he applied for the job of Defence Against the Dark Arts.

At least he knew what he was doing... again.

* * *

Katie put the letter back on her desk. Was it really happening? Smiling, she pulled her suitcase out from under the bed and packed it with the few things she owned. She swung the medium-sized bag over her shoulder and picked the letter back up as she headed for the door.

"Platform 9¾ ..."

* * *

'Platform 9¾,' Crystal read from the letter.

'Oh, honey, this is so wonderful,' Crystal's mother was crying lightly. 'This is great ... I'll see if I can get you there before your father finds out you're gone.'

Crystal sighed. 'I wish ... I wish I could take you with me.'

'Don't be silly, Crystal,' her mother replied, forcing a smile. 'Besides ... someone's got to stay here and make sure your father doesn't follow you.'

Crystal burst into tears and hugged her mother tightly. She knew what her father would do to her mother once he realised she'd helped her escape.

'I love you, mum,' she murmured.

* * *

'An Owl, a Rat, or a Toad ...' Chelsea quoted strangely.

'A standard pewter cauldron, and a wand?' Ken replied.

'This will be so much fun,' Chelsea giggled, looking at the blue-haired boy over the top of her letter.

Ken nodded, not noticing her looking at him. 'Should we bring Wormmon and Renamon?'

'Were they invited?' Chelsea asked, lowering the letter so that Ken looked up to see her smiling.

Ken blushed.

'Besides,' the bubbly girl continued. 'I'm sure we'll be just fine without them.'

Ken nodded and looked back at his letter. 'You're probably right.'

* * *

'Come on, Corey!' Tammy whined. 'I told Alex we'd beat her to the station!'

'Well you shoulda thought about that before you said it, silly,' Corey replied with a cheeky grin before he roughly shoved Tammy backward onto the bed behind her.

Tammy squealed and giggled as Corey followed her down, kissing her firmly. She sighed and melted into the kiss. As Corey started pulling at her shirt, she pushed Corey's letter off the bed and onto the floor so that it wouldn't be ripped or crushed by their... 'activities'.

* * *

Navarr looked up at the computer screen. 'You got one too?'

He knew Kyri was typing back to him. He waited a few seconds before a new message appeared.

'A letter? Yeah. I'm reading it now... Navarr... this is so strange. I can't just fly to England to disappear for seven years ...'

'Don't worry, Kyri, I'm going too, remember?'

There was no movement for a few moments before another message popped up.

'Okay. I love you, Navarr.'

* * *

'Be good, Pierre!' a middle aged woman shouted to the long-haired boy waiting to board the plane.

Pierre turned, smiling. 'I will!'

'The Sweeden to England plane is boarding now on platform 81 and will be departing shortly,' rang a female voice over the speakers.

Pierre turned back again toward the gate, wondering if any of the people surrounding him heading to England got a letter just like he did. He took one last look at the photo in his hand before he pocketed it and boarded the plane.

'I love you, Ratchet,' he whispered.

* * *

'Do you think I should go, Clank?' the lombax asked his robotic friend.

'Sure, Ratchet,' Clank replied. 'You could meet some fans. You might even find yourself a girlfriend.'

The small robot chuckled. Ratchet did too, even though he knew he wasn't looking for a girlfriend ... of the female kind, anyway... he was more male-inclined.

'Okay, I'll go,' Ratchet decided out loud. 'England, Earth.'

Ratchet stood and read the return address on the letter again, and then threw his fist into the air, pointing to the stars.

'This'll be an adventure unlike any other! To Earth!'


	2. The Mysterious Train

**An Adventure Like No Other  
_Chapter Two : The Mysterious Train_**

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own Ratchet & Clank, OR Harry Potter, OR Digimon, OR Pokémon; I however, own the characters Crystal, Katie, Alex and Chelsea. Navarr, Kyri, Tammy, Corey and Pierre are real people and as such belong to ... well, themselves. Hehe.  
Ratchet & Clank, Harry Potter, Digimon and Pokémon belong to Insomniac Games, J.K. Rowling, Bandai and Nintendo, respectively. I don't make money from this,as nice as that would be._

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* * *

_

Alex waited at the train station. She was wearing a white pair of jeans and a colourful frilly-sleeved shirt, with which she was fiddling impatiently. She'd beaten Tammy there, but that wasn't the point. She now had to wait, by herself, for the other girl to join her.

Of course, she didn't have to wait long – Tammy did say that she'd beat Alex there, which meant she wouldn't be far behind.

'You're late!' Alex laughed, dropping her bag and running over to Tammy with her arms open.

'Corey - well - distracted me,' Tammy was laughing too, and Corey pouted.

'I did not!'

'Well, whatever!' Alex said. 'We're here, in England of all places! What do you think?'

Tammy took a quick look around and then smiled. 'It's not like Australia, I'll tell you that much.'

The trio walked off, Alex with her letter out, which carried her ticket in it.

'Platform 9¾ ...' she said aloud. 'Where are we gonna find platform 9¾?'

Tammy rolled her eyes. 'Probably somewhere between platforms 9 and 10, duh.'

Alex turned around so that she was walking backward and sneered at Tammy.

'Shhh,' she said. 'I woulda figured that out eventually.'

* * *

Pierre looked around at the foreign surroundings, then looked down at his ticket again.

"Platform 9¾ ..." he thought to himself, before he bumped roughly into someone. Immediately he turned to the person who had fallen over, offered the girl some help up and apologised a few times, in English.

'It's okay, thanks for your help,' the girl replied, before looking up at him and gasping.

Pierre laughed a little, nervously. 'Is something wrong...?'

The girl smiled straight away, and then threw her arms around Pierre, who froze, confused.

'Lombnut!' she exclaimed.

Pierre took her shoulders and pushed her away, holding her at arms length to get a good look at her. He studied hard for a few seconds, before he realised who it was.

'Alex!' he replied, giving her another hug.

'Lomby!' another girl said. 'It's me, Wolfie!'

Pierre let go of Alex and spun to see Wolfie – Tammy – standing with her arms out. Now that he thought about it, he recognised her straight away. He embraced her and laughed. 'I never thought I'd see you two here!'

'We didn't think so, either,' Alex said. 'If we hadn't got these weird letters we wouldn't be here.'

Pierre turned back to Alex in a snap. 'Letters?'

'Yeah,' Tammy replied, handing Pierre her letter. 'It's an invitation -'

'To Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,' Pierre finished. 'I got one too! That's why I'm here.'

'That's so cool!' Tammy said, jumping on the spot a little. 'Oh! This is Corey, my boyfriend.'

'Hey,' Corey said casually, smiling.

Pierre looked at the boy who he wouldn't have noticed there if Tammy hadn't pointed him out. He was wearing a white shirt with grey scribbles on it, and a pair of dark blue jeans. He held out a hand for Corey to shake, grinning.

The four of them decided to head towards platforms 9 and 10. Walking along slowly, as it was only half past ten and the train left at eleven o'clock, Pierre talked with the others about their trip to England. It had been shorter for him than it had for them, but it was still a major change for all of them from their own homelands.

They were talking about the photos they were going to have to upload to deviantART when they returned at the end of the school year, when Alex stopped dead, looking straight ahead with an awestruck look on her face.

Pierre stopped with her, confused, and waved a hand in front of her face. 'Alex? Hello? What's wrong?'

Alex grabbed Pierre's shoulders, spun him on the spot and pointed straight ahead of him. 'Look!'

Pierre couldn't see anything but bustling people for the first few seconds. As he looked harder, he saw someone dodging swiftly through the crowd, moving towards the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Pierre's mouth opened slowly in disbelief as he watched the disguised, hooded, yellow fur-coated person look around for a second to see if anyone was watching before walking straight through the brick wall between the platforms.

'It's - it's -' Pierre stuttered, completely overwhelmed by emotion, his cheeks a deeper pink than a 10 year old girl's Barbie backpack. 'It's Ratchet!'

Pierre's world started to spin. Immediately he pulled the picture out of his left pocket and examined it; a picture of Ratchet that he printed off from the internet, dressed as he was in the first game, bearing his best weapon and a great big grin. Pierre's eyes flickered between the platform and the picture as it clicked – Ratchet was real! He was really real!

'Hey,' Tammy said out loud. 'Platform 9 ¾! It's between platforms 9 and 10, literally!'

'Yeah, through a brick wall,' Corey retorted.

Tammy looked at Alex for a second, and Alex knew what she was thinking. Grabbing Pierre's left arm while Tammy grabbed his right, the girls ran after Ratchet, not stopping even as they approached the brick wall. Pierre couldn't help himself, all he could do was clench his eyes shut as the two unstoppable girls ran right ... through the brick wall?

Pierre opened his eyes again, and they were in a completely different place. A large steam train, completely unidentical to any of the electric trains that were in Kings Cross Station, was stopped at this platform. Pierre, however, didn't care about the train – he looked wildly about, searching for the yellow-furred person he saw earlier, until his eyes settled on a short cloaked figure getting on the train. He quickly broke away from the two girls holding his arms as he ran towards the carriage that the Lombax was boarding.

* * *

Ratchet walked up the stairs and into the carriage and took a look around. It was much larger on the inside than it seemed from the outside; he was amazed, but not surprised – the letter had informed him he would be going to a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry – he knew to expect the completely unexpected.

He was about to take his first step into the train when he felt someone grab his hand. He looked inquizitively to his right to find a boy with long, sandy brown hair, glasses, and a strangely adorable expression of awe as he looked up at Ratchet.

'R-Ratchet,' the boy almost stuttered, seemingly stumbling over his own words. 'I – I – I - '

Ratchet chuckled, and turned to face the boy. He was obviously a fan, or he wouldn't be so nervous; so he tried to get the boy to relax a little. 'What is it, buddy?'

'I – my name is P-Pierre,' the boy managed to say. 'I am your biggest – biggest fan!'

Ratchet laughed. 'Yeah? That's so great!'

Pierre seemed to be very flushed and nervous, and it made Ratchet a little uncomfortable, especially considering they were standing in the middle of the doorway and blocking people. He took Pierre's hand and led him away from the entrance, picking the first room he saw and taking Pierre inside. Two girls and another boy followed them in, and Ratchet naturally assumed that they were Pierre's friends.

'I'm so glad to meet a fan of the games way out here on Earth,' Ratchet said to Pierre, who's cheeks were very pink. 'Have you played all of them?'

Pierre seemed to be in disbelief. 'A-all of them? Are you kidding? I've played each one of them so many times I've lost count.'

Ratchet grinned. "Wow! Such a devoted fan! He reminds me of me, and how many times I played the Sly Raccoon games ... heh. If I were him, I would probably be just as nervous as he is now."

'Listen,' Ratchet started. 'You're the only person here so far that seems to know me... would you mind ... being my friend?'

Pierre's jaw dropped. Ratchet didn't honestly know what to think – was it wise asking such an avid fan to be his friend?

'I mean, I don't really know this galaxy very well, and I'm sure you know a lot more about it than I do -'

'Of course I will, Ratchet,' Pierre breathed. 'It would be an honour!'

Ratchet grinned massively. He'd made a friend already! Awesome!

* * *

'I'll be back, mum,' Crystal whispered. 'Just ... make sure you're still here for me when I get back, okay?'

'Of course I will, sweetheart,' Crystal's mother replied, hugging Crystal tightly. 'You go and make friends, and be happy, you deserve it.'

Crystal nodded and turned around. Short goodbyes were a lot less painful than long ones, she'd learned that from experience. She began to walk away, but turned around after a few steps to wave back at her mother, who stood up and, like her, turned and walked away, not wanting that experience. Crystal watched her walk away, and took a few steps backward, then turned around again and started walking toward Platform 9, without a clue as to where she would find Platform 9 ¾.

'Platform 9 ¾,' she heard someone say from next to her.

Crystal spun on the spot and saw a girl a few inches taller than herself, and took in the sight of her. The girl wore an old white t-shirt and a torn, fading pair of jeans and carried a medium-sized suitcase, smaller than her own. Crystal approached her tentatively, wondering if it was really the right thing to do.

'P-Platform 9 ¾?' she squeaked, grabbing the older-looking girl's sleeve and tugging slightly.

* * *

Katie turned sharply as she felt a hand on her arm. She looked first straight ahead, then looked down a few inches, into the eyes of a small, pale looking girl with almost white but slightly brown hair that fell dead straight down to just above her shoulders. Her eyes were a piercing crystal blue, and she seemed lost.

'Yeah,' Katie replied, 'Platform 9 ¾.'

The girl's expression lightened up a little, and Katie herself relaxed a little and smiled.

'My name is Crystal,' the girl said. 'Crystal McClaren.'

'Katie, Katie Shore.'

Crystal's eyes twinkled a little, happy to have found someone with a common interest – or at least, a common destination.

'So ... do you know where Platform 9 ¾ is, Katie?' Crystal asked.

Katie nodded slowly, scanning the brick wall between platforms 9 and 10. 'I think I saw some people getting to the platform earlier ... following a hooded person. It's through the wall, between platforms 9 and 10.'

'Through – through the wall?' Crystal replied curiously. 'Really?'

Katie took the younger girl's hand and led her away towards the wall, stopping right before it. She felt Crystal's nervousness, and looked down at her for a few seconds, before she pushed on, right through the wall. Crystal squealed and clenched her eyes shut for a second, but opened them to see a magnificant steam train; the rest of the station had disappeared except for this mysterious platform 9¾.

'This is amazing,' Crystal whispered. 'I never knew this was here...'

'It's certainly not your every day train station, is it?' Katie replied, observing her surroundings with interest and a smile.

Still holding Crystal's hand, Katie walked over to the second carriage and lined up with the other people around her age, figuring that the first carriage was probably full already. She was almost at the step when -

'Are you two sisters or something?'

Katie turned to her left to see a blonde boy dressed in black robes with a green tie and collar. Two noticably taller and less intellegent boys stood on either side of him like bodyguards. Katie felt Crystal's hand tighten around her own, and felt the sudden and irresistable urge to be protective of her.

'No, we're not related,' Katie replied cautiously.

The blonde laughed, and the other boys followed suit a second later as though they didn't actually get it, but were following their boss anyway. 'So, what, are you lesbians then?'

Katie blinked. Was this a joke?

'Draco!' spoke an older male voice; an almost identical man stepped forward from behind the blonde, who turned around to him guiltily. 'Don't be so rude, young man.'

The older, longer-haired blonde – who Katie guessed was "Draco's" father – stepped forward and offered an apology, and introduced himself as Lucius Malfoy. He then pushed Draco onto the train; the boy glared at Katie as he passed.

'Well, that was unpleasant,' Katie said to Crystal as she instinctively dragged the smaller girl back to the first carriage, wanting to stay away from the horrible boy.

After unsuccessfully looking around the carriage in the hopes of finding an empty room, the two girls settled for intruding upon the room with the least people in it – three young boys and two girls, all of whom seemed to be laughing.

* * *

'Come on, Ken, let's follow these two,' Chelsea giggled, pulling the blushing bluenette by hand into the seemingly empty room and shutting the door.

'Er... sorry,' Ken said.

Yuki turned around, wondering why Ken was apologising, to find that the room wasn't nearly as empty as she thought it was.

'Oh! I'm so sorry,' she started. 'We'll just -'

'Chelsea!'

One of the girls stood up, and Chelsea gasped. 'Alex!'

The two girls squealed and hugged each other.

'I haven't seen you for ages!' Alex said in disbelief.

'I know! You got a letter too? I don't believe it!'

Ken squeezed past the two squealing school-girls and sat down next to a small, almost frightened looking girl, and introduced himself.

'Crystal,' the girl replied, smiling a little. 'And this is Katie.'

The taller girl nodded and smiled.

'We've all just finished introducing ourselves here,' a hooded person laughed.

Ken examined the person closely – was that ... yellow fur?

'My name is Ratchet, he said, pulling his hood off to reveal a cat like face, with large, yellow ears, a wide, yellow grin and blue eyes. 'And this is Pierre.'

The long-haired boy sitting next to Ratchet nodded and blushed.

'I'm Corey,' said a boy on the other side of Pierre. 'This is Tammy,' - he pointed to the bright brunette next to him, who grinned and waved excitedly – 'and that's Alex.'

The girl who had jumped up to greet Chelsea turned and smiled to Ken. 'You must be Ken! I've heard a lot about you.'

Ken nodded shyly. 'I've heard a lot about you, too.'

Eventually, everyone sat back down and started talking. Katie was talking about a blonde boy who had deliberately targeted herself and Crystal. The group appreciated the warning to keep their distance from this Draco Malfoy and his stupid-looking goons. Everything went swimmingly until a slender face framed by long dark hair appeared in the window, a girl next to him, clearly looking for an empty cabin and instead finding something else that interested him.

* * *

The door slid open.

'Alex!' Navarr exclaimed.

Alex laughed and stood up. 'Vee-chan, it's so good to finally see you in person!'

'It's good to see you too!' Navarr agreed, hugging Alex tightly, a little disappointed when she pulled back quickly.

'This must be Kyri,' Alex inquired, stepping aside to let the girl in and shake her hand. 'I'm so glad to meet you.'

Kyri nodded, smiling.

The door was closed behind them, and Navarr sat next to Alex, and Kyri sat on his other side. He was astounded by how many people could comfortably sit in such a small looking room. He counted around the cabin as everyone introduced themselves, starting with the girl on the end of the seat opposite him: Chelsea, Ken, Crystal, Katie, Ratchet, Pierre, and across from Pierre was Corey, Tammy, Alex, himself and Kyri. 11 people? It seemed impossible. Was it just his imagination, or was it really magic?

* * *

It was his turn to patrol the corridors. Why weren't the prefects and the Head Boy/Girl assigned this job? It was so trivial.

He usually started at the back. The rowdy students were usually the late-comers, and if you're late, you had no chance of getting a seat at the front of the train.

A shrill whistle sounded, and a few seconds later the train kicked into gear, jolting a little before moving forward. He watched out the tiny window at the back of the train as platform 9 ¾ slowly moved away, picking up the pace quickly until soon enough they were well away from King's Cross Station and it was disappearing in the distance.

Potions Professor Severus Snape began his patrol. Students were still walking around the corridors, some laughing and yelling to each other playing some sort of game, and some still looking for seats. Severus looked in the windows of each of the rooms as he passed, making sure none of the students were doing anything stupid or immature. As usual, there were a lot of rowdy students in this carriage, but when Severus reached the end of this particular one, he sighed a sigh of relief – there was nothing particularly eye-catching, nothing that needed more attention than he already gave.

Severus boarded the next carriage. There were no students wandering in this corridor, thankfully. From this point on he spent less time looking in the rooms and more time peering out the windows on the other side, more interested in when they were going to arrive, and when he could retreat to his dungeon quarters by himself, not surrounded by the dunderheads he'd eventually have to teach.

Severus found Harry Potter in the third carriage from the front of the train. He scowled at the boy - his hair had gotten messier and his expression stupider. If it wasn't for Dumbledore, Severus would have expelled The-Boy-Who-Lived in his first year, when he deserved it. Or, at the beginning of his second year, for that stupid stunt with the Muggle flying car. Or in his third year, when the boy went to Hogsmead without permission. He shouldn't have been allowed to participate in the Triwizard Tournament last year. Even though Severus himself was secretly wishing the boy would die, he claimed other reasons why Potter should have continued, all of which he regretted presenting to Dumbledore, because of the events that followed. If Potter was even a little bit smarter, he wouldn't have let the Dark Lord rise again. If Potter was anyone but himself, perhaps he would have failed the tournament and the Dark Lord wouldn't have had the opportunity.

Severus sighed. He needed to stop thinking about those depressing realities.

He took a good look in the last room at the very front of the train. Another rowdy bunch of students, new ones, occupied this room – the loudest being one brunette who was standing up and seemed to be telling jokes. He'd probably have to keep an eye on that one during classes. He examined the rest of the people in this overpacked room.

It occurred to Severus that they were quite a random bunch. A cloaked figure sat almost in the corner on the left with what looked like – was that yellow fur on his cat-like face? Oh well – it wasn't the first time something non-human would be taught magic. Next to the strange person sat a long-haired boy, who didn't look very English at all – an international student perhaps. Two girls – one looked as pale and fragile as glass, and the other looked as though she hadn't worn a decent outfit in her life - sat next to the cloaked boy. Next to them was a blue-haired boy with a shy smile, and another brunette who was laughing away.

On the other side of the carriage sat yet another brunette who seemed more interested in snogging her boyfriend in the corner than listening to the loud girl standing on the other side of her. Next to Miss. Loud sat a similar couple who were tightly holding each other's hands.

Severus shook his head and walked away to his quiet, private room at the very front of the train. This year was going to be somewhat different from the others.


End file.
